The Opening Stance of War
by Jessiikaa15
Summary: The ministry has accepted that a war is coming, and now it's time for something to happen. Harry knows that there are many dark people within the ministry that could make all their hard work for nothing, however, he thinks he might just have a plan for that. It'll be practically impossible, but then again, impossible is something he's worked with before.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back with the next section and I have to apologise for the wait. I've been so busy with real life, but I'm hoping to be able to get the next section up a lot faster. I'm thinking about putting this all in to one fic, I'll see where things go. Anyway, enough of this, and on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I'm not J.K unfortunately,**

**Warnings: Language;**

_**The Opening Stance of War:**_

They made their way to the apperation point and Sirius raised his eyebrow,

"Where to?" He asked his godson, curiosity shining through.

"Home, to the manor." Harry told him, and Sirius blinked before nodded. They disappeared with a crack and landed in the entrance hall of Black Manor, before Sirius could open his mouth to speak, Harry darted off and up the many stairs to the infamous Black family library. Sirius shook his head and followed his bizarre adopted son, he found him already surrounded by books.

"Ok, spill." Sirius ordered and Harry looked up sheepishly.

"It came to me that the main problem within the ministry, and the main problem that is going to happen with this war, is going to be spies." Harry began, trying to rationalise the ideas and thoughts whirling in his mind. "There are going to be people who seem like average, everyday people, like you or me, but they work for Voldemort. I remember you saying to me that it was dark times and you never knew who you could trust, and that is going to make everything a lot worse."

"I know what you mean," Sirius agreed, and he shook his head, "Back in the first war you didn't know if you could trust the person next to you. You couldn't even walk down the street without wondering if the person on the other side of the road was out to kill you."

"Exactly, and we know that there are those in the ministry that will resume their place at that maniac's side as soon as possible." Harry said.

"I understand that, pup, but I don't see where you are going with this."

"What if we could create something, a ward or a spell, that can detect the Dark Mark, even if it's hidden?" Harry presented, "If that were possible then the ministry would be practically safe."

"If that were possible then we wouldn't have the spies in the first place." Sirius pointed out and Harry frowned.

"I know that, but I thought that the war came from no-where last time? I mean, it wasn't until the big attacks came along did anyone know there was a war, and by that time Voldemort already had more people in the ministry under his control that what we had aurors. This time we're at an advantage, not only do we have access to some of the greatest minds of our world currently, we also have one of the greatest library's in the world at our fingertips." Harry explained, looking at his adopted father sincerely.

"This is a big task." Sirius mused, "But you do have some good points." Harry smiled when he noticed that Sirius didn't completely write off his idea straight away.

"I know it may not be possible, and I know it hasn't been done before, but I thought that, if we could find a way for detection, a way to feel out the Dark Mark, then maybe I could be able to add to it." Harry suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know that Riddle is very arrogant, and he does a lot of his magic in Parseltongue because, at the time, he was the only one able to speak and cast in it. It is one of the things that makes him so overly powerful, I've found that you can't block a Parsel spell with an ordinary spell." Harry explained, "Because of this, it is my belief, and I am sure we could find this out, that the Dark Mark is created and cast in Parseltongue. _I_ speak Parseltongue, so I might be able to enhance or find something that could aid the ward." Harry shrugged, "It's all unknown at the moment, but I thought that if there was anywhere to find the information then it would be here." Sirius blinked a few times in amazement, he didn't know what was going on in his son's mind, but as long as it kept up like this then they would extend their advantage. Sirius had never been more proud of his son than he was at this very moment, not only had he faced and escaped Voldemort, he owned the wizengamot and forced them to open their eyes, and now, after all of that, he had thought of, and rationalised, an idea that could bring the burgeoning war firmly in to their favour.

"Pup, you are brilliant." Sirius told him. "This is going to be a challenge, and it may be a complete waste of time, but if it works, if there is even a chance that this could work, it will change everything." Harry smiled brightly at that.

"I've found these books on wards, I was flicking through to see if there was anything that could be of use." Harry said to him and Sirius nodded

"One moment, I will see if I can find a few on magical ward chains and passive wards." Sirius decided, "Pack those up and grab a few on Arithmancy chains and dark magic bindings and detections, we'll need to know about the Dark Mark and how darker magic is detected."

"Got it." Harry waved his wand to stack the books and shrink them down. He got up and vanishing in to the shelves, he grabbed many books he thought may help them with what they were trying to accomplish. There were a few that really caught his interest and he was looking forward to getting stuck in, he knew, of course, that this idea in itself was entirely experimental, but the mere thought was exciting him and, deep in the depth of his mind, he pointed out that he was rather known to do the impossible. Harry shook his head, if they didn't have hope then they had nothing, it was going to be difficult, it would probably take months to have something, if anything, plausible but they had to try.

If they could secure the ministry against Voldemort's forces then they could train and plan without the fear of Voldemort knowing what they were doing, of course they would have to be cautious, Voldemort was nothing if not cunning, but they would be in a better position than before. It would also enable them to cut down more of the psychopath's forces, with the ministry's new stance on death eaters, if they would be able to detect them then they would be able to capture them. He shook his head again, he was getting ahead of himself, this was all theoretical at the current time, it was no use putting too much hope on something they had yet to make. Harry looked over at the pile of books he had amassed, they were floating along behind him and he nodded, he was at the end of his section and he had selected all the books he thought would be helpful. He shrunk them down and went back to wait for Sirius so they could return, he was surprised to find him already waiting and reading.

"Ready to go, pup?" Sirius asked, "I expect Moony is pulling his hair out."

"Wouldn't surprise me, he worries way too much." Harry agreed with a grin,

"I wouldn't say that to him, I'll be surprised if he doesn't layer you in spells after the third task." Sirius joked,

"Oh like the passive shield and tracking charm you've already put on me?" Harry inquired lightly and Sirius grinned sheepishly,

"You uh felt those did you?"

"As soon as you cast them." Harry confirmed, "But I don't mind, and it puts you at ease."

"I was considering following you around as Padfoot but Moony said that might be a bit too much."

"Thank Merlin for Moony, otherwise known as your common sense." Harry sighed and Sirius pouted.

"Hey!"

"Let's go,"

They made their way toward the nearest floo and called for the headmaster's office, where a panicked Remus pounced on them as soon as they stepped out of the grate.

"Where have you been?" the werewolf demanded, his expression a mix between irrational worry and anger. "The headmaster was back an hour ago and you disappeared, what happened? Where have you been?"

"Easy Moony, easy," Sirius soothed, "Harry had a nice little idea that could solve a massive issue, we just wanted to see if it was plausible."

"What have you planned cub?" Remus asked, looking at Harry and the teen pretended he didn't see the brown/amber eyes flicking over his person to check for injuries.

"We will fill you in on the way to the tower,"

"Gentlemen," Dumbledore greeted and the returning Black's nodded, "Harry, I would like to congratulate you on a spectacular petition. You have single-handedly did more to harm Voldemort's forces than the ministry combined."

"Thank you, Headmaster. It did go much more smoothly than I could have anticipated." Harry told him.

"Yes, it is very pleasing seeing Cornelius take an active role as minister. I have to admit, I was truly shocked at how despicable Lucius Malfoy was." There was no twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes as he spoke, only cold anger and Harry understood why Voldemort feared this man.

"It is my hope that, with the new stance, people like Malfoy will no longer be able to harm our world as they have done." Harry agreed and Dumbledore nodded. They said their goodnights and left the office.

"What's this idea then, cub?" Remus asked again, and Harry looked around cautiously.

"Not to be paranoid, but the walls have ears. Where are you guys staying?"

"Dumbledore has given us rooms next to the tower." Remus said, "Come on," he led the way up to Gryffindor tower and then veered off to the left of the corridor, there was a portrait of a majestic white stag in a field of lilies and Harry smiled softly.

"I solemnly swear." Remus spoke quietly and the portrait swung open, Harry grinned at the re-enactment of the Gryffindor tower and he happily threw himself down in to one of the squashy chairs in front of the fire.

"I like it." Harry decided and Remus grinned,

"Yes, I thought you would." He said, taking his own seat. "Ok, you two, tell me what scheme you've thought up."

"It's actually pretty ingenious, Moony." Sirius told him enthusiastically, "Pup had a bit of a brainwave and thought that if we could create a ward to detect the Dark Mark then it would clean up the ministry." Remus' eyebrows climbed up his head and he turned to look at Harry in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we went to the manor to raid our book supply and I thought that we could make it our new project, I know Mione would love to help and so do I."

"We can begin looking in to possible solutions, I will speak to Bill too, as a curebreaker he is a ward master and he'll have a good idea where we can start."

"Plus, as Harry pointed out to be earlier, the Dark Mark is likely to be created by Parseltongue and pup can speak it."

"That gives us a severe advantage from what we didn't have last time." Remus nodded, already going through many things in his mind, "What books did you collect."

"Here," Harry unshrunk his books as Sirius did his, they stacked them on the table and Remus smiled.

"Very good selections," He approved, "I can begin reading right away."

"I want to start my training again, double it." Harry stated as he began to pace their living room, "If there was anything I learned that day it was that I am no match for that psycho, and he seems to be determined to kill me, something I would rather he not succeed at."

"You know we will help you as much as we can pup." Sirius said firmly. "Tonks can help with her auror training and we'll do advanced battle techniques."

"I know, and that sounds good." Harry nodded, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"And now I am going to tell you to go back to the tower and go to bed, you have done enough today." Sirius told him.

"There is other things to plan, I have to-,"

"No Harry," Sirius cut him off sharply and Harry span to look at him in shock.

"You need to rest, I am not cutting you out of this." He said when he saw what the teen was going to say.

"You have cut a severe blow to Voldemort's base and it is only the day after his had returned, you have potentially solved another huge problem that arose last time and you have put the ministry in a position to prepare. You have done enough," Sirius said to him softly and Harry's shoulders slumped.

"I can't stand the thought of not doing anything,"

"You are doing more than enough." Remus assured him, "You have done more than anyone, but if you want to continue to help you need to rest." Harry nodded with a sigh, he looked up at Sirius and Remus with a scared expression that immediately caught their attention.

"It-its not my fault is it?" He asked them unsure, he was worried that he had caused this, he could have gotten away.

"No," Sirius gasped, "Why would you think that?"

"Because I could have gotten away sooner, I could have stopped him taking my blood, I should have done something!"

"No Harry, no you mustn't think that." Remus told him, Sirius kneeled down in front of where Harry had thrown himself on to the sofa.

"This is not your fault pup," Sirius stated, "You did not know what was happening and you are in no way responsible for this. It is solely down to Pettigrew and Crouch, and I never want you to feel guilty or in any way responsible." Harry looked at him searchingly, he was looking for deceit, but found nothing but honestly.

"Ok," he breathing relieved, it had been on the back of his mind since he had returned, the 'what if?' and it had been driving him crazy.

"You need rest, and you need food." Remus decided, calling for an elf. One popped in with a plate of food that Harry dived on like it was his first meal in a week, when he had finished he got up and stretched.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"We'll be at breakfast." They assured him with a nod, Harry left the room and headed for the tower. He was tired and he was looking forward to curling up in his bed tonight, he muttered the password and found the common room nearly empty. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, the twins and Luna, and Harry was no longer surprised to see her in their common room, were waiting for him by the fire and all turned when he entered.

"Harry!" Luna dashed over to hug him and Harry smiled, kissing her cheek.

He flashed them a small smile and collapsed in to an empty chair, the day was catching up with him and he was exhausted but he was happy when Luna curled up next to him.

"How did it go?" Neville asked and Harry smiled.

"Better than expected," He said.

"Really, they believed you?" Hermione questioned, sitting forward and Harry nodded.

"Better than that," He said, "Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, McNair and Avery are all magicless and are in cells waiting to go through the veil." Neville gasped wide eyed.

"They were judged?" he breathed and Harry nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Oh yes, and I got to do it myself." If possible, Neville's eyes grew wider and he looked at Harry in complete shock.

"You?"

Harry nodded.

"Fudge wanted them straight for the veil, but I didn't think that was enough. When I ran the idea passed the wizengamot it passed and Fudge handed me the honours."

"Wow,"

"Yes, and we found out that Malfoy had been controlling Fudge since he had become minister with compulsions and potions, when the seal of silence went up it broke everything and Fudge, the real Fudge according to Amelia, is back with a vengeance. The man was pissed, and he is really cracking down. He just put through the law that all suspected death eaters are to be questioned under Veritaserum immediately after being brought in and if found guilty of their crimes they are to be judges and then, if its bad enough, pushed through the veil." Harry told them all and it was clear they were shocked.

"They are really doing something about it?"

"Yes,"

"This is good, but we can't expect V-Voldemort to sit back and do nothing. He is going to hit back and it's going to be bad." Hermione pointed out.

"I know, but the ministry is preparing. I doubt if Fudge, Amelia or any of the department heads will be leaving tonight, everything is going to be changed."

"What about the base he built up last time?" Ron asked with a frown on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I remember dad telling me about the last war, he had loads of people and magical creatures at his command. Vampires, werewolves, giants, leithoids, dementors and loads of others, what's going to happen about them?" Ron clarified.

"At the moment there is nothing we can be doing about that. The ministry is preparing for war and they and focusing their forces hard, and that is the priority. Sirius and I are already working on the creature and race laws, but they are slow moving, saying that, the main hitters against us are now removed from power and it will take a while before the heirs will stand a change at being able to go against us" Harry told them, and they nodded, "On the other hand, I may have found a solution to stop Death Eaters being able to get in to the ministry."

"How?" Hermione asked interested.

"What if you were able to block someone with the Dark Mark from entering?"

"Impossible, there is no such thing." Hermione said immediately and Harry's eye twitched.

"I am well aware that there is no such thing _currently_." Harry stressed the last word, giving her a pointed look as she blushed. "What I was thinking was creating something that either stopped the Dark Mark or incapacitated someone with it."

"That's a pretty steep task." Ginny noted,

"Not to mention-,"

"Extremely advanced." The twins interjected.

"Yes, but this is Harry we are talking about." Neville pointed out.

"His middle name is 'impossible'." Ron added, he turned to the teen in question, "What do you need us to do?"

"At the moment, nothing but train with me. Sirius and Remus are going to be putting me through my paces and I want you to be able to protect yourself like I did in the graveyard. I'm not saying run and confront the Death Eaters, but when they come after you, and they will, you'll be able to get away."

"We're in, Harry." Luna assured, "Whatever it takes."

"Good."

"I'm beat and I have a lot to do tomorrow including drawing up our new training schedule, and collecting my winnings from the task." Harry said and the others blinked.

"In the mess of everything I actually forgot you won the tournament." Ginny mused,

"So did I until Fudge reminded me about it earlier." Harry said with a sardonic grin, he got up to his feet and easily lifted Luna with him. He pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, "How are you getting back to your tower?"

"I'm not, Ginny said I could room with her."

"Good, I don't like the thought of you going back there alone."

"Has anyone given thought to the reactions tomorrow?" Fred asked,

"Little Malfoy is going to be just lovely." George continued and Harry groaned.

"Don't worry, he won't know the reason behind his father's death until the news release." Harry ran a hand through his hair, "Let's deal with that tomorrow. I need my bed." They nodded and went their separate ways, Ron and Neville followed Harry up to their dorm where they each fell in to their bed with groans.

"Everything is going to change isn't it?" Ron asked quietly,

"Yes," Harry answered straight away.

"We just have to hope it's the best." Neville added and they all had to agree with that.

**There we have it, as I've said I've been thinking about making this in to one fic. Let me know what you think of the fic! Thanks guys,**

**Jess***


	2. AN: One fic?

Ok, so I've listened to you guys' insistence and put this series in to one fic. It's called Aestibus so if you want to follow/fav the entire thing then that's where you'll find it!

Thanks guys!

Jess*


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